1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure is directed to authentication systems in general and, more specifically, to a system and method for computer authentication using image analysis of a shared secret.
2. Description of the Related Art
Early computer systems usually involved a large mainframe computer to which a number of terminals were directly connected. In early computer systems, these terminals were often in the form of teletype machines. Early computers also had card readers that were also directly connected to the machine. Network security generally involved simply providing a user identification (ID) and password.
The development of networked computer systems and a client server architecture meant that computer terminals were often connected together over great distances using a wide-area network (WAN), such as the Internet. Early computer terminals evolved from a “dumb” terminal to sophisticated computers with a significant amount of computing power in each of the various system servers and clients.
Computer security has become a much greater concern because of the accessibility of many computer networks via a WAN. Early computer security was generally directed towards authentication of a user wishing access to a computer system or network. Different techniques have evolved to provide authentication of the user. The most common form is a user name and password that should be known only to the individual user and to the server with which the user wishes to connect.
Although techniques have been developed to authenticate a user wishing access to a computer system or network, there is still a significant need for techniques to authenticate the computer system or network to the user. For example, a user accessing a bank account via the WAN wants to be sure they are communicating with their bank instead of an unscrupulous computer server that “spoofs” the actual bank website. If the user is fooled into believing that they have accessed their bank website, the user may unknowingly divulge confidential information such as user names, passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers, and the like. Unfortunately, the user often discovers the spoofing only after their account has been hacked and money has disappeared from their account.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for techniques for computer authentication. The present disclosure provides this, and other advantages, as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.